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Whilst I have much admiration for Ron Paul's courageous stance against the US war machine, I personally have concerns about Ron Paul's "small government" philosophy, which on the surface seems to have much in common with Australia's home grown 'free-market' extremists such as Paul Keating and John Howard. Nevertheless, I think it unlikely that if Ron Paul had been in the shoes of John Howard in 2006, he would have defied the will of the vast majority of public opinion opposed to the sell-off of Telstra. He certainly would not have led this Government into the illegal 1991 war against Iraq (largely based on the "incubator babies" lie) as the Hawke/Keating "Labor" government did, nor the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan as Howard did.

How wonderful to hear the names of Paul Keating and John Howard uttered as a free market duo in the comment above! This is symbolic of the lack of choice in main political parties in Australia over past decades.

Paul Keating has bizarrely attained a stature amongst the supposed liberal intelligentsia of Australia as a visionary and passionate reformer when he was nothing of the sort.

This is exemplified in that curious interview with Richard Fidler on 2 November. (Mp3 file of 24Mb here).

In 1983, without any electoral mandate whatsoever, Paul Keating as Treasurer in the newly elected 'Labor' Government of Bob Hawke introduced the extreme "free market" dogma which has has since spread to constrain every level of Government in Australia from retaining ownership of wealth generating-facilities or providing the services we once expected of Government. This commenced, when out of the blue, Keating announced that he would 'float' the Australian Dollar so that its price would henceforth be set by speculators and not in any way by Government regulation.

As a result, in 2011 governments retain ownership of only very few, if any, of the banks, insurance companies, power generators, water utilities, railways, buses, airlines, and other facilities that they once owned. The crowning jewel of Telstra was privatised in 2006 against the overwhelming wishes of the Australian public. Australia Post is still publicly owned but run as a profit-making corporation and it will surely only be a matter of time before the Federal Government attempts to flog that off as well.

There is almost no difference of substance between Howard and Keating, certainly not enough to justify the seeming animosity displayed in public between the two. Given how they colluded so effectively to impose neo-liberal policies on the public, since at least 1991, whichever of the two formally held Prime Ministerial Office, I can only conclude that the their apparent dislike for each other as shown in the embedded YouTube broadcast below, was only intended for public consumption.

Given that Howard won the subsequent 1996 Federal election and was handed a pretext to dishonour his commitment not to slash and burn services, thanks to Keating's concealment of the true magnitude of the Federal Budget deficit during that campaign, the laugh in the above video was not on Howard, but on us.

The Labor party betrayed the interests of their supporters through their free-trade policies. Those who traditionally voted Labor saw their jobs lost and factories closed due to competition with imports, from countries with cheaper labour. Keating secured support for his proposal to develop the role of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC), established in 1989. The Howard government continued the work with even more zeal and now both major parties champion the scrapping of subsidies, tariffs and government preferences for Australian manufacturing – in the name of “Free Trade”.

Our mining industry was once almost entirely Australian owned, as was dairy, sugar, meat process, railways and major construction. This is most certainly not the case today, with about 80% of mining companies being foreign owned.

It is estimated that in total the three agreements have cost Australia 26,000 manufacturing jobs.

The free trade supporters said propping up "uneconomic factories" forced everyone to pay the high prices for their goods, which damaged the economy overall. If nations did not erect barriers against each other’s trade, all their economies would grow more and there would be less international tension. However, the livelihoods and welfare of voters and their incomes and jobs transcends the welfare of the Economy. The Economy has become an end in itself instead of a means to an end.

Prime Minister Paul Keating in a speech to the Australian Chinese Forum in Sydney on October 12, 1995 said "Asia is emphatically where this country's security and prosperity lie. It is where an increasing number of our people come from and - unambiguously and wholeheartedly - it is where we want to be... Our efforts on free trade, multiculturalism, and education and training are all part of the same strategy."

Pauline Hanson, MHR said that we were in danger of being "swamped by Asians". 1996. And after two years of 'so called' debate, this statement is still the subject of bitter dispute.

The question which must specifically be asked is, "Are there plans to turn Australia into an Asian country?" Her concerns were quite legitimate.

The Age, 16/3/98, reported this statement by Phillip Ruthven, Chairman of IBIS Business Information:
"By 2025 Australia was likely to have ceded some sovereignty over population and some financial and legal matters to a grouping based on our closer neighbours in the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) countries".

Mr Ruthven is saying, in effect, that we will be governed by an Asian group of countries known as APEC, with no control over our population level, economy or law.

Lee Kuan Yew (former Prime Minister of Singapore) sees a steady and inevitable Asianisation of Australia, with our European population ending up as the white trash of Asia.

In May, 1993, the then Prime Minister of Australia, Paul Keating was openly touting a European Community type of agreement for the Pacific but warned that the region must integrate economically before it commits itself to such an ambitious plan.

It aims at reducing wages and conditions of Australian workers to the levels of the country's Asian trading partners (the so-called "level playing field").

Labor supporters are questioning their support. So if unconvinced, resign, move on.

Holding on to Labor is like holding on to its poisoned Tree of Knowledge.
Labor never replanted hope at Barcaldine. It put in place a memorial.
A native graceful Ghost Gum replaced by an Brezhnevesk split concrete Boston City Hall blight.
Accelerate by!